Factual error: Asystole (the lack of cardiac activity, also known as the 'flatline') is not treated with defibrillation (electric shocks) but with alternating doses of the drugs epinephrine and atropine.
Flatliners (1990)
1 review
Directed by: Joel Schumacher
Starring: Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt, William Baldwin
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Flatliners has an interesting premise-that is, how far would or should one go to discover the answer to whether or not there is existence after death. Several young med students come together and attempt to explore that eternal question by dying for moments and then being revived, recounting any remembered experiences for prosperity. Things take a dark turn as they die and come back tormented by haunting visions related to things that they felt troubled or guilty over, and each must try to reconcile with their pasts. This film could have easily been based upon a Stephen King story for all that implies-a bit psychological and supernatural, with a moral message and cautionary tone about the pursuit of certain answers being perilous as well as the dangers of hubris. Dated and a bit quaint compared to current horror and science fiction films, but interesting enough to justify watching and strange enough to keep one watching.
More mistakes in Flatliners
Nelson Wright: Somehow we've brought our sins back physically. And they're pissed.
Question: Just before Lebracio goes to the subway to find the ghost of Billy Mahoney, he crosses the street and about a dozen bicyclists come whizzing past him. Was this a hallucination? If so, why would he have a hallucination like that? If it wasn't a hallucination, what the heck are a bunch of racing bicyclists doing on a wet street that late at night?
Chosen answer: No hallucination. It was Halloween night, so everyone was acting a little crazy. That's why one of the med students shows up in a skeleton suit. Going further, the 'hum' of the bikes were used not only to throw the viewer off as the same humming noise Nelson describes with coming back from the dead, but to confuse Nelson with death and reality and these new sensations/feelings he is experiencing since being brought back to life. The cyclists are used, in a sense, to scare Nelson and viewers. The same 'hum' can be heard when Nelson first finds Billy Mahoney in the dingy tunnel.